Because of the trace Jai had put on Ari when he’d kissed her that first time they’d been introduced, he could feel her emotions screaming and Jai could pretty much follow the shrieking. She had just pulled up to Vickers’ Woods. Jai collapsed onto Ari’s dad’s armchair, wondering what was happening out there. He knew it was about time those two hashed it out, but he was afraid for Ari. Afraid whatever Derek had to say was going to hurt her. And he had a horrible feeling she’d already been hurt today. By me. Feeling uncomfortable, Jai shifted uneasily. Ari wasn’t even in the room to pin him to the chair with those wounded eyes. He had done the right thing by not telling Ari about the magic. He had done his job. What did she want from him? She knew he worked for The Red King, she knew he was her guardian not her friend. What the hell was with the guilt trip? He cursed under his breath just as his cell rang. He tugged it out of his back pocket and flipped it open when he saw the name. “Trey, what’s up?”
“Did she like it?” his friend asked with a grin in his voice.
“Did who like what?”
“Ari. Did she like the earring?”
Jai clenched his jaw in irritation. He should never have even mentioned her, or that awkward, blazing moment at her door when she’d tried to kiss him and he’d been so close to giving in he thought he was going to explode with need for her. “Is that why you forced the earring on me? You said it was a congratulatory gift for getting this job. You know, the kind of gift a friend can’t refuse. But if this was some sick thing you got in your head about Ari-”
“What the hell crawled up your ass?” Trey cut him off.
“I told Ari the truth about magic.”
“About time.”
“Yeah, she didn’t take it very well.”
“And you’re feeling guilty because you have feelings for her.”
“Stop psycho-analyzing me. I don’t feel guilty. I’m just annoyed. I’m waiting on her returning. She ran off after her dad.”
“He finally left his room?”
Jai rolled his eyes. Trey’s mind was a steel-trap; mention the slightest detail and he’d remember it. “Yes, he did.”
“Well, when she gets back and she forgives you for lying to her, bring her to L.A., I want to meet her.”
Feeling a spark of unwanted jealousy, Jai found himself saying the words, “She’s off-limits, Trey,” before he could stop himself.
His friend laughed. “It’s not like that. And I’m seeing someone at the moment anyway. He runs a nightclub downtown and he’s very hot. Human this time. The last Jinn I dated was no fun in an argument. She kept running off into the Peripatos every time things got heated.”
“Was she the one that kicked off your girlfriend ban?”
“Yeah, it didn’t last long. Although, I haven’t been with a woman in a week.”
“So this nightclub guy is new?”
“Yeah, we’ve been dating about a month.”
Jai snorted, thinking how Rik, Trey’s dad, would have an apoplexy if he knew the truth about his son’s sexuality. Rik was stuck in the dark ages and completely homophobic. Trey often joked that he thought Rik wouldn’t go too mental because Trey dated girls as well as guys but Jai knew underneath, Trey was terrified of his father finding out the truth.
“What?” Trey huffed, laughing. “We’re not monogamous or anything. I’m over that.”
He was only over that because the last relationship he had been in had almost killed him. As well as being a guardian Jinn, Trey was an artist (something else his father didn’t know about). He’d fallen in love with an art dealer in L.A., and he and the guy had been seeing each other for just over a year when the guy finally got fed up of sitting around waiting for Trey to tell his family about them. He’d walked out and left Trey a mess.
“Yeah.” Jai sighed. “So is that why you called? To annoy me about Ari?”
“She sounds nice, man. And she sounds hot. I say forget about the old man and go for it.”
“How do you know she’s hot? I haven’t even told you what she looks like.”
“I know that look in a guy’s eyes when he thinks the person he’s talking about is hot. You were practically drooling.”
Flushed with embarrassment, Jai snorted down the phone again, “You’re so full of it.”
“You’re a dick.”
“So are you.”
“Well this is very mature,” Trey laughed. “But in all seriousness, Jai, you’ve got to let go of this crap with Luca.”
“She’s just a girl.”
“OK, maybe she is. You still gotta let this stuff go.”
“I will if you tell your dad you bat for the other team.”
“I don’t. I bat for both teams.”
“You know what I mean.”
There was silence down the other end of the line and then it crackled as Trey sighed heavily. “We’re trapped, aren’t we?”
The truth of that statement stabbed at Jai. There was a possibility he was going to go through his whole life trying to measure up to his father’s inexorable expectations. And there was a chance he was going to lose everything that might have been meaningful trying. “I think we are, yeah.”
After another moment’s silence, Trey asked, “So, did she like the earring?”
Jai shook his head, a wry smile curving his lips despite himself. “I think so.”
“You still pretending what happened, didn’t happen?”
“I have to.”
“OK. Answer me one thing…?”
“OK?”
“She’s hot isn’t she?”
“Goodbye, Trey.”
“No come on, man, I want details.”
“She’s not for you, Trey,” Jai warned, feeling that inexplicable possessiveness take over again. Why was Trey so fricking interested in her?
“I know that, didn’t we just cover that. Jeez, someone’s a little overprotective. I just want to know if the girl who’s got you all tied up in knots is hot?”
“She’s not got me all tied up in knots.”
“No, but you wish she did,” he snorted.
Rolling his eyes at his friend’s weak joke, Jai sighed heavily. “She’s hot. Now piss off.” He hung up, feeling exhausted. Talking to Trey was like talking to a politician. You never really got anywhere.
A chill shot through Jai’s body and he stiffened in surprise. Jinn didn’t feel much in the way of changing temperature but Jai did when a person he had under trace was in danger.
Ari!
Heart pounding against his chest, Jai drew himself up letting the flames of the Peripatos overwhelm him. Two seconds later he stepped out into Vickers’ Woods, the smell of damp moss and wet grass hitting his nose just as his eyes fell in horror on the scene before him. Derek lay slumped at the feet of a Shaitan and beside him was Ari, unconscious at the feet of another Shaitan. The tall one over Derek’s lifeless body smiled at Jai, his teeth sharp silver points that glittered in the afternoon sun.
“I bring a message from The White King.”
Jai’s eyes narrowed, fury flowing into his veins. “Yeah?”
The Shaitan winked at him. “Checkmate.”
With one last smirk, and just as Jai was darting towards them, the two Jinn stepped back, huge flames engulfing them as they returned to Mount Qaf from where they’d been sent. Panic had consumed Jai. His movements felt slow, his heart rate too fast, and his vision blurred. He fell upon Ari and rolled her over, two fingers resting on her neck. At the feel of her pulse beating steadily beneath his skin, Jai cursed, relief unfurling through his entire body. His throat burned with unnamed emotion and he leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead and inhaling her familiar vanilla scent. He brushed a trembling hand down her cheek, her skin the softest, finest thing he’d ever felt. His eyes drank in each tiny detail, the long fan of her lashes across the crest of her cheeks, the small delicate nose, her full soft lips; longing punched him in the gut and he sighed, pushing himself back from her. This was getting ridiculous.
With a little distance, sense returned and Jai rushed over to Derek. Derek looked abnormally pale. Worry spiked through his blood again and Jai nudged Ari’s dad over, his fingers reaching for his pulse. He frowned, not feeling anything. He shifted his fingers waiting to feel that little steady press in and out against the pads of his fingers.
Nothing.
Disbelief shot through him. There was no pulse. Remembering the Shaitan’s ominous message, Jai sat back on his heels and held out his hands, palm downwards, moving them through the air above Derek’s body, searching for a trace of Jinn magic. It wasn’t until he reached Derek’s head that his hands tingled and he sensed the trauma that had been caused at the Shaitan’s hands.
“No way,” he breathed as he fell backwards.
He had been sitting there mooning over Ari like an adolescent boy with a peephole into the girl’s locker room and Ari’s dad…
The air crackled behind him and Jai whirled, lowering himself into a defensive position, protecting Ari and her dad’s body. At the sight of The Red King, Jai straightened. The look on Ari’s uncle’s face drove home the truth. Stepping towards Jai slowly, his huge body tense with emotion, The Red King shook his head, his red hair swinging below his waist. “He’s gone,” he told Jai sadly. “My brother sent the message to me knowing I would be too late to stop him.”
“This is revenge?”
“Yes.” His blue eyes glittered dangerously in the light. “Payback for defying him.”
“Ari,” Jai choked, glancing down at her still curled up form unconscious on the grass.
The Red King didn’t say a word. Instead he strode past Jai and knelt down, lifting Ari into his strong arms with ease. “I will take her home,” he replied softly. “I have to explain everything to her before she does something rash.”
“And Derek?”
“The Shaitan was ordered to give him an aneurism. Even when dealing out revenge my brother likes to keep things organized and easy to clean up after.” For just a second, The Red King’s face flickered, his eyes turning black, and shadows swirling under his skin. Then just as quickly, he looked like himself again. “Arrange it so that Derek is found. Put him back in his car and have it placed somewhere someone will find him quickly. His death must be like all other human death. It will be easier for Ari in the long run.”
“Easier for Ari,” Jai growled, rubbing a hand over his short hair in desperation. He felt useless. “How is… she’s not going to get over this.”
“She’ll have to.” The Red King looked down at his niece and Jai could have sworn there was a sad fondness in the huge Jinn’s eyes. “The White King has thrown down the gauntlet.”
4 - I’ll Protect You Once I Save Myself
The sound of snoring had become soothing despite its origin. Charlie was sitting across from his dad in silence, watching his chest rise and fall in drunken sleep. The television was muted, the football game playing across the screen just flickers at the edge of his vision. A bottle of scotch lay at his dad’s feet. It was difficult to come to terms with the truth. His father was a drunk. And his mom didn’t seem too concerned about doing anything to help him. Sure the house was cleaner, she was starting to pay more attention to Charlie — she’d even hugged him the other day — but Mike’s ghost still lingered in the house. A sharp knife of pain flared in Charlie’s chest and he closed his eyes briefly, still amazed by how fresh the grief of losing Mike could be. Maybe if they’d had a more volatile relationship like some brothers, maybe if Mike had been a total pain in the ass, then he could deal with his death more easily. But Mike had been a great kid. He’d been his buddy…